…the two potentially deadliest opinions on a scribbler’s WURK are prob’ly from family and friends… ‘coz family are usually so supportive, and also, they may be depending on yer writing to put food on the table on a regular basis… they will generally tend to encourage the heck out of yeez… friends, more often as not, will hesitate to render any negative commentary on yer masterpieces… that leaves the casino/lottery of reviews from independent readers—these days, found in droves on the pages of the Great God Amazon and other eBook channels… extract the trolls, who sum’times get to manoeuvre their bullsh*t onto these sacrosanct opinion posts, and what’s left is the reality… my personal view is that the majority of reviews will be in the 4-star and 5-star range… quite simply, human nature will veer toward not publishingtruly devastating put-downs, preferring in such instances not to post at all… along with gazillions of my fellow quill-scrapers, I can bask in the warmth and comfort of glowing critiques for my wee babies… one received yesterday for KILLER CITY is priceless, and I want to wrap it up and store it forever in a treasure chest, to be taken out and read many times in the future… however, equally, I can delude myself as to the quality of my stuff if I’m not careful… that stated, after a while, an appreciation of what are the honest reviews settles in, and when yeez reach a critical mass of these, yeez can feel yeez have ‘arrived’ as an Author… I’m conscious of the old epithet, practice makes perfect… the famed cellist, Pablo Casals was once asked at the age of 90 why he still practised… he said, ‘I think I’m improving…’

…and so it is with writers… now to the real point of this blog post… recently, enuff readers have kindly begun to compare my novels with other, more famed authors, (happens to us all eventually, I think ) with the dangerous-to-the-ego comments such as, ‘…the new Lee Child, the new Tom Clancy, the new James Patterson, the new this, the new that…’…my view is simple–I have no desire to be the new emb’dy… I’d much rather people would think Lee Child, Tom Clancy, James Patterson, et al were the forerunners to Seumas Gallacher!… okay so ye’re an Author… yeez gotta have dreams, right?… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!…

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I agree that, while in some ways it’s nice to be compared favourably to a more famed author, we would all rather just be looked upon as being ourselves and appreciated for that. I can honestly say that I have some trouble reading other crime writers’ novels but your books are most enjoyable, Seumas 🙂

Another entertaining post with witty and down-to-earth advice.
With all due respect, comparisons don’t help. You’re you, and you write how you write. Who wants the burden of changing his or her style to please their readers who liked YOU in the first place? We are each unique and I like that. 😀

You are an original, Seumas! I wouldn’t insult you by comparing you to another author. I liked your comment about criticism of your books by family – mine has been much harder on me than other reviewers!